Test if lists share any items in python

Question

I want to check if any of the items in one list are present in another list. I can do it simply with the code below, but I suspect there might be a library function to do this. If not, is there a more pythonic method of achieving the same result.

In [78]: a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

In [79]: b = [8, 7, 6]

In [80]: c = [8, 7, 6, 5]

In [81]: def lists_overlap(a, b):
   ....:     for i in a:
   ....:         if i in b:
   ....:             return True
   ....:     return False
   ....: 

In [82]: lists_overlap(a, b)
Out[82]: False

In [83]: lists_overlap(a, c)
Out[83]: True

In [84]: def lists_overlap2(a, b):
   ....:     return len(set(a).intersection(set(b))) > 0
   ....: 

Answer 1

def lists_overlap3(a, b):
    return bool(set(a) & set(b))

Note: the above assumes that you want a boolean as the answer. If all you need is an expression to use in an if statement, just use if set(a) & set(b):

Answer 2

You could also use any with list comprehension:

any([item in a for item in b])

Answer 3

You can use the any built in function /w a generator expression:

def list_overlap(a,b): 
     return any(i for i in a if i in b)

As John and Lie have pointed out this gives incorrect results when for every i shared by the two lists bool(i) == False. It should be:

return any(i in b for i in a)

Answer 4

def lists_overlap(a, b):
  sb = set(b)
  return any(el in sb for el in a)

This is asymptotically optimal (worst case O(n + m)), and might be better than the intersection approach due to any's short-circuiting.

E.g.:

lists_overlap([3,4,5], [1,2,3])

will return True as soon as it gets to 3 in sb

EDIT: Another variation (with thanks to Dave Kirby):

def lists_overlap(a, b):
  sb = set(b)
  return any(itertools.imap(sb.__contains__, a))

This relies on imap's iterator, which is implemented in C, rather than a generator comprehension. It also uses sb.__contains__ as the mapping function. I don't know how much performance difference this makes. It will still short-circuit.